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Obama, Xi, Modi to attend Paris climate summit
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Oct 27, 2015


Polish president says won't ratify carbon-cutting pact
Warsaw (AFP) Oct 27, 2015 - Poland's new conservative president on Tuesday refused to endorse an amendment to the UN carbon-cutting pact that would require the coal-dependent EU country to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A Brussels-based environmental policy think tank said the decision "stalls the ratification process" on measures to reduce emissions just a month ahead of the landmark UN climate summit in Paris.

But President Andrzej Duda said more analysis of the measure was required.

"Binding Poland to an international agreement affecting the economy and with associated social costs should be preceded by a detailed analysis of the legal and economic impact," he said in a statement.

"These effects have not been sufficiently explained," Duda added, defending his refusal to back the measure.

In line with the United Nations' Kyoto pact, which took effect in 2005, the European Union agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.

Duda's move came just two days after his conservative allies in the Law and Justice party won parliamentary elections.

The party has vowed to protect Poland's loss-making state-owned coal sector.

The country of 38 million, which is enjoying steady economic growth, gets around 90 percent of its electricity from burning coal.

Experts say Poland's outgoing parliament would need a three-fifths majority to overturn the presidential veto. But few believe parliament will convene to vote on the matter.

The move comes ahead of the November 30-December 11 UN conference in Paris, which aims to seal a landmark climate-rescue deal after more than two decades of fraught negotiations.

"The Polish presidential move stalls the ratification process," Kamila Paquel, a senior analyst with the Brussels-based Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) think-tank, told AFP via email Tuesday.

"The newly elected Polish political leadership has provided a signal that it is not supportive of EU and international climate policy," she added.

"Full ratification would allow the EU's legally binding commitments in the second Kyoto period (2013-20) to enter into force in international law," Paquel said.

Greenpeace Poland said Duda's decision was a "bad sign", saying it could delay the EU's compliance with further emissions reductions or even trigger a "stalemate on decision-making" in the 28-member bloc.

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US climate envoy visits Cuba, Brazil before Paris summit
Washington (AFP) Oct 27, 2015 - The United States has sent its climate change envoy to former foe Cuba and Latin American giant Brazil ahead of the global environment summit that begins next month in Paris.

The State Department said that Todd Stern had left for Brazil and Cuba on Sunday to prepare the ground for talks on a global climate pact. His trip is due to wrap up on Thursday.

Brazil and the United States have been working together on climate change issues, and Presidents Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff launched a joint working group in June.

But Havana and Washington only restored full diplomatic relations in July after a five-decade Cold War stand-off, so Stern will be breaking new ground in his meeting.

The State Department said Tuesday he was seeking an "opportunity to promote mutual understanding with Cuban officials on climate change" ahead of the Paris summit.

Earlier, France had confirmed that 80 world leaders -- including Obama, China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi -- will be in Paris from November 30 for the summit.

At least 80 world leaders, including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi, will attend a summit tasked with inking a global climate pact in Paris in December, France said on Tuesday.

Diplomats endorsed the outlines of the proposed deal in Bonn on Friday after five days of fraught negotiation that highlighted just how much work remains to be done in Paris.

The aim is to unite all the world's nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

For the opening day on November 30, "we have already received 80 confirmations, including from the presidents of the United States and China, and the Indian prime minister," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told journalists in Paris.

The leaders of Britain, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Canada have also accepted, he said.

The last attempt at sealing a global climate pact, in 2009, saw about 110 world leaders descend on a UN summit in Copenhagen for the two final days, only to leave frustrated when the negotiations collapsed.

"Together with President Francois Hollande, we decided to invite heads of state to attend the first day and not the end as in Copenhagen," said Fabius.

This had been partly to blame for the failure, he said, "as the negotiators were waiting for heads of state to negotiate, and the heads of state failed to resolve anything."

This time round, "the idea is to provide a political impetus at the beginning" of the conference -- which will see the leaders take turn to make statements.

The Bonn round of talks last week signed off on a much-expanded, 55-page draft for the deal. While negotiators were satisfied it reflected everyone's views, they admitted it was unwieldy.

- We have a base -

The document will be given to ministers and heads of state for the difficult political compromises needed to unlock an ambitious, universal climate agreement.

"In Bonn there were detailed discussions, and we now have a base of negotiations for Paris," said Fabius.

The next step is a meeting of ministers from some 100 nations in Paris from November 8-10.

"It will be an important occasion," said Fabius, to "advance along the road to compromise."

The right to alter text is reserved for bureaucrats at official negotiating sessions, which this will not be, but it is hoped the ministers will be able to start bartering on the key sticking points -- and divisions run deep.

Developing countries insist rich nations should lead the way in slashing climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, arguing they started polluting earlier, and should bear a heavier duty for fixing the problem.

They also want assurances of financing to help decarbonise their economies and shore up defences against climate-induced impacts -- superstorms, drought, flood and sea-level rise.

But industrialised nations balk at being saddled with a higher burden of responsibility.

They point the finger at emerging giants such as China and India spewing carbon dioxide as they burn coal to power expanding populations and economies.

The much-anticipated final deal would be the first to include all the world's nations into a single arena for climate action.

The pact will be supported by a roster of national pledges for curbing greenhouse gases, but over 150 commitments submitted to date still put Earth on track for warming of 3 C, scientists say.


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